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I realize that, but I also realize your opinion is wrong. As US gun ownership has increased, gun homicides have decreased. I posted the CDC/CRS data.
Guns are NOT the problem.
That's not quite what that plot said. It just said the overall number of guns divided by the number of people increased - but what about the percentage of people who own guns vs. time? How did that change?
You want to control for scenarios like the guy in Las Vegas who own a ridiculous amount of guns - if individual gun owners acquire more guns themselves, and the number of people that own any number of guns stays the same, your figure would go up.
I also don't think you can use that data to make that exact conclusion that you're making in your last sentence. It may be that they are not the problem, but there are more factors than just the number of guns out there that affect crime or gun violence.
Don't worry about Europe they do have freedoms you don't like the freedom to be raped and murdered without being able to adequately defend themselves.
With both of those happening at a far greater frequency per capita in the U.S. you mistook your Shetland Pony for a high horse... Giddy-up there little doggie!
Like every other gun incident in the last 30 years, politicians will talk about it for 2 weeks, then bury it under the rug.... until the next shooting incident.
Nothing will ever get done. Too many conflicting interests
We will never agree. The war would of been lost, without the Soviet Union, without the UK ( including countries of the commonwealth ) and without the US.
The point you seem to miss, is that the US alone did not win the war. This is the stuff of Hollywood. The US played an important role, and could be said to have won the portion of the war in the Pacific, but Europe was not won by just the US.
The rest of the world, that participated in those two world wars, are sick and tired of the mantra " we saved your asses " when in fact it is much more complicated than that. It was an allied effort, and the US taking credit for winning the war is historically inaccurate and the stuff of propaganda.
I think your hatred of the American principles of individualism, self-reliance, and freedom is coloring your opinion on world history. Without us, Europe would have fallen to the Nazis and a world of tyranny and mediocrity would have resulted. We prevented that. We were the difference maker. But while that was very cool and very true, are primary contribution is that of advancing the example of freedom to the rest of the world. Which is why everyone always wanted to come here, and still does. Although we are regressing now toward statism and collectivism, and will soon resemble the sewer that is Western Europe.
I have no problem in guns possessed and well kept by law-abiding citizens.
But the problem is many law-abiding gun-owners don't behave responsibly -- they are so negligent that up to 600,000 legal guns -- 1,600 guns per day nationwide -- are stolen, burglarized, or just forgotten and gone astray. Most of these guns wind up in the hands of gangs and robbers.
Guns are not toys. Gun owners should behave responsibly and they should provide proof that the guns are well kept under their possession.
Aw c'mon now, fess up. You'd be perfectly happy if no one except for the military and police were allowed to have firearms. Even then you'd require that they only be allowed to carry them during the course of their duties. Barring that you'd be in favor of making it prohibitively expensive and place as many obstacles possible for the legal possession of firearms.
But I do agree with you that those who own firearms have an obligation to do everything possible to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Myself, I've got a nice big heavy safe along with a monitored security system. Living in Arizona I can legally carry just about anywhere and there is no reason to leave a weapon in my vehicle while unattended. For those that for some reason or another have no choice but to leave a weapon in their vehicle there are small gun safes that can be hidden and bolted to the vehicle.
Most gun owners do act responsibly as there are approximately 80 million of us in possession of some 300 million firearms. 600,000 of that number works out to be 1/5th of 1%.
I don't know who came up with that 600,000 annually figure? But according to the National Crime Information Center, or NCIC. The number of firearms reported stolen were 232,000 guns in each year from 2005 to 2010. In 2015 the number was 191,000. Those figures don't include firearms that were not reported stolen or recovered firearms. But still 600, 000 seems rather high.
Quote:
The FBI started the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in 1967. The NCIC maintains a list of stolen firearms that are reported to it from a variety of sources, primarily from other criminal justice agencies. A study done by the Bureau of Justice statistics ( BJS) shows a fairly reasonable approximation to the NCIC numbers
41% of adult households have at least one gun. Increased gun ownership = lower gun homicide rate. Kind of hard to argue with that...
More data that corresponds to the increase in gun ownership:
Thank you again for your response and the interesting data figures.
What I'm really asking for is your plot that I initially responded to, but with percentage of people who own guns plotted against gun violence. Not just the total number of guns divided by the number of people.
I think the data I'm seeking would make your case a little stronger.
By the way, I'm not saying that guns are THE problem. Although I think it is a bit simplistic to completely dismiss their role in gun violence. Especially when you look at this issue at a worldwide level where our nation is a bit of an outlier in the developed world.
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